


Heartfelt

by PaddyChan



Series: Heartbeat [6]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: But this turned out way too long anyways, M/M, Need to set my priorities straight, Seriously this is the longest work in this series, Stole the Halori again from Staubengel and regret nothing, no smut this time, oops i did it again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 09:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaddyChan/pseuds/PaddyChan
Summary: Ronan has certain reasons to never listen to Peter's brainchilds. First, he's way too soft. Second, he never thinks things through. Third, whenever he does, Peter ends up hurt in some outrageous plan.All things considered, Ronan should have known better than agreeing to another one of his lover's stupid ideas.





	Heartfelt

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah. So... It's me again. Just wanted to tell you I've had this idea for another Shot for months now. Didn't work out the way I wanted since it would be even longer otherwise. But well, better than the other way round I guess.  
> Have fun ^^

“Controlling! International Space Station to controlling! We can’t fix the lacks, the pressure is too high! Systems 41, 17 and 26 are failing! This is-” The report was cut as Ronan turned off the communication system. They had spent the weekend with each other; Ronan trying to do as little Accuser-stuff as possible. It had been the anniversary of Peter’s mother’s death, leaving the usually joyous Terran melancholic and quiet. Ronan had picked him off, taking him to Holaqua, an uncivilised planet with a quite evolved wildlife. The Kree had no use for it, simply taking the rather large planet under their protection since they didn’t want another race to claim an orb with a breathable atmosphere this close to Hala. Ronan thought his Terran might enjoy the uncivilised place with its enormous forests, open glades and calm atmosphere.  
He had ordered a few Sakaaran to build a small dwelling (since he needed a stay to determine whether the planet was indeed inhabited and hadn’t become a hiding-place for outlaws due to its isolation, of course). It turned out, Peter loved the idea of a weekend together. Little by little, his annoyingly cheerful personality had taken over again. By now, they were on their way to Terra again to drop Peter off home, already having passed the Jump Point.  
However, the Terran decided to be complicated again, when he turned up the communication system, adjusting it to ease the crackling sound. “-gative. The closure is damaged severely. Expecting-” Some loud noise made the next sentence impossible to comprehendibe, as well as the beginning of the next, this time spoken by a different voice. “- send a shuttle as soon as possible.” “Negative”, the voice was denied. “The oxygen filters are destroyed and we expect another implosion soon. We will not survive this long, the impact was too intense.”  
Peter turned to the Kree next to him, who growled. “No.”  
“But they’ll die!”  
“And how”, Ronan answered painfully slow, “Is this of any concern to Hala?”  
The Terran sighed. “It’s not.”  
“Very well. In that case, we will-” “Except”, Peter interrupted, a gesture the Accuser would have beheaded anyone else for, “I am of no concern to Hala, as well. I’d be a worthless Kree! I can’t fight, I can’t follow orders, hell all I do have is a big mouth that gets me in trouble all the time. But I’m still of concern to _you_!”  
In the background, the conversation continued. Apparently, some kind of asteroid had hit the International Space Station, tearing a hole in its walls all the way inside. The vacuum of space ripped it open farther every minute, making it only a matter of time until the station was utterly destroyed. There was something with the oxygen as well, but Peter’s attention was kinds thawed at the moment.  
“ _You_ are of concern to me”, the Kree agreed darkly, eyes hardening. “They are not. This space-ship is nothing more than a bulk of trash, it is not even worthy of this name. These Terrans entered it anyway, it is their fault alone to get blown to pieces.”  
“It’s the best humans came up with so far”, Peter argued, making Ronan grimace in disgust. “And if we save those Terrans, then your one will totally give you another blowjob before you leave.”  
An invisible eyebrow lifted under the Accusers hood. “You have bribed me with sex more than once, Peter. You should know it won’t work.”  
He huffed. “Fine. If you don’t do it, I’ll get a dog.”  
Ronan had seen the despicable animals Terrans loved to walk around with on a leash so much. They were disgusting, but still- “You may do if you wish. I do not care.”  
“Oh.” Peter looked outside, where he could see earth already. Almost home. “All right, then. But I’ll have to take him here whenever you pick me up. It’ll be awesome! He’ll run everywhere, chew on Korath’s clothes and don’t forget we’ll have to take him out to pee every few hours. Oh, and he’ll sleep in our bed. But it’s gonna be awesome! He can totally drool on your side, since you don’t need the blankets anyway.”  
“You are attempting to blackmail me”, the Accuser stated, taking a threating step forwards, before reconsidering. “Is it that important to you?”  
“Well… If they were Kree, wouldn’t you save them?”  
“No. Getting into this situation is their own fault.”  
So much for that. Peter should have known better. Anyway… “It means that much to me”, he affirmed, making the Accuser nod once. Just a year ago he would have crushed even Peter’s skull for attempting to blackmail him -even if he knew it wasn’t a serious one. However, he had come to realise this was one of the ways the Terran only acted when he really cared. “If you dare to take any kind of these disgusting furry animals onto my ship, I will slaughter it and have you eat it for dinner”, he stated, making his lover beam. “I never even wanted a dog. Way too much responsibility. Cats are cooler anyway!”  
“I still demand that blowjob. And afterwards, I will fuck the living daylights out of you”, Ronan informed him calmly as he prepared his orders, making warmth pool into Peter’s belly. Holy hell, he couldn’t wait. When Ronan activated the Dark Aster’s stealth mode, a small timer started counting. The warship wasn’t laid out for secret missions but was built for battle. Ronan usually only put her into secrecy for the short amount of time he needed to drop Peter off at home, kiss him goodbye (okay so sometimes it took a _little_ longer) since it took a lot of energy to camouflage a battle ship this large, even if it was just from Terran view.

 

The three men had gathered in the sole room that wasn’t directly hit by the impact. The communication systems had been shut off as none of them wanted records of what was about to happen. There hadn’t been much left to be said. Telling their loved ones Goodbye hadn’t even been possible. By now, all of them waited for the inevitable. At some point within approximately the next hour, the outer shell wouldn’t be able to withstand the surrounding vacuum anymore, tearing the Space Station open and leaving them to certain death as they would be sucked out into space.  
Facing the inevitable was strangely calming, the three of them noted. They had worked together on the Space Station for more than three months now, but none of them had expected this- how could they?  
Three heads shot up as something knocked at the door. There was no wind in space and neither was any of the equipment left unsecured. The knocking sounded again and this time, a blonde man carefully got up. Whatever it was, they had to be extremely careful- the door was pulled open roughly, the security clamps broken. Two people stood at the other side; one more than a head taller than the other, body covered in black armour, purple eyes watching them sharply out of a grim face cast in shadows by the large hood. The smaller person next to him was clad in a pair or washed-out jeans, a Nirvana-shirt and a red leather jacket. “That was so rude”, he complained to his companion, who growled something in a deep, dark and guttural voice. Then, the shorter man turned to them, grinning. “Guess who just traded your lives in for a blowjob”, he twittered, before entering. “Are you alright?”  
The three men simply stared. There was… But… “How…”, one of them finally brought out, making the red head’s face lit up. “Ah! You’re… wait, don’t spoil it, I nearly got it… Alexander! Hah! I saw you on TV a couple of times. Nice to meet you in person.” He was quite sure that guy was German. There were two others, an American and a Russian. Was it… “Jason and… uhm… Slovancij? Am I pronouncing it right? Nah, never mind. I’m Peter, by the way.”  
The three astronauts continued staring, before the first one -Alex, the German guy- finally asked “Are you human?”  
Peter laughed. “I’d be really surprised otherwise”, he confirmed, before gesturing to the man next to him, to whom “unfriendly” seemed to be an understatement. “Would be nice if you could hurry up a little, guys. Ronan hates waiting and I’m afraid if we take much longer, he’ll just throw all of us into space.” He tossed them another small ball that wavered towards them in the weightlessness of space -however, their two visitors were standing firmly on the ground. “I know floating is fun and all, but you might want some gravity”, he advised. “Just turn it -no, the other way, this one actually turns gravity off and we already are in space- yeah, that one.” The three of them got yanked down gracelessly, as the artificial gravity field around them activated, before they managed to get up. “About two meters of radius, try not getting too far away. Anyway, let’s go. I really need to get to work tomorrow.”  
The three men swallowed simultaneously. If this wasn’t so very serious, it would be a rather funny sight, Peter thought. “Listen, guys, it really took some effort to convince Ronan to not just let you die out here. So, if you could hurry up a little, I’d really appreciate it. Anyway-” However, before he was able to end the sentence, a console next to him exploded out of seemingly thin air, the shockwave sending Peter crashing into the opposite wall. Or rather, it would have, if it hadn’t been for the man covered in black who caught him, turned them both around and shielded the shorter one with his own body as another explosion shook the wall. He took a small cube out of his clothes, pressing on it once, before casually throwing it at the burning wall. As soon as the cube connected, some kind of forcefield activated, suffocating the fire and tightly covering the collapsed wall, preventing further damage. Then, the man growled something in his guttural language, before simply dragging Peter along on his arm. “Ah!” The red head turned around a little, as he stumbled alongside the large man. “If you wanna live, you should come with us”, he called over his shoulder. Another moment passed, before Jason got up. “If we stay here, we will die for certain”, he decided and his Russian colleague looked up, grim. “Even if we didn’t…” Alexander nodded, face serious. No matter if these men were human or not… This was what they had been searching for decades: Intelligent life in space. Yes, they might die. But if they stayed here, they would do so for certain.  
“Just… Wait a moment, Roro! They’re coming!”  
The large man answered something, ignoring the tugging on his arm. The three astronauts hurried to follow, noting another large sealed hole in a wall of their station. A pale blue glowing energy net was keeping the lack sealed close. This wasn’t even close to technology any of them had ever seen.  
The tall man opened another door before walking swiftly towards the sealed exits connected to the shuttle station. It was a triple doored one, highly secured and only opened whenever members of the ISS entered or left the station. However, the shuttle had been destroyed and the doors lead to nothing but open space! Unceremoniously, he opened the doors, entering… a large, black gangway. Another man was waiting for them, dark skinned, pieces of metal covering his skin and bald head. He said something, using that deep, guttural tone as well, making Peter groan. “Oh, c’mon! Really? I’m getting you to do something genuinely nice for once and this happens?”  
The man clothed in black said something to him -still dark and throaty, however… different somehow. Peter grinned. “It doesn’t happen to _me_ all the time, it always happens when we’re together. That makes half of it your fault.”  
The man took a threatening step to his way smaller companion, however, Peter just laughed. “Seems to take a little longer, then. Korath, you don’t happen to have some translators, do you?”  
The dark skinned man handed him three little devices, before him and the other tall man walked away brusquely. In front of them, Peter sighed, before turning around. “Could have gone better”, he decided. “But certainly could have gone worse.” Then, he grinned. “Welcome on the Dark Aster! Turns out your stay will be a little longer than intended, but Hey… At least you’re not dead, right?”  
“So, this is an UFO”, Jason stated, making Peter shrug. “Well, it’s not Unknown since I already told you, it’s the Dark Aster. And it’s not Flying, either -technically. So, it’s just an O.” He shook his head. “Doesn’t really matter at this point, does it? Are you hungry? Or do you want a shower? Kree only use cold water but I talked Ronan into installing a heater for me. Anyway, you should come with me.”  
“We didn’t know there were humans other than us in outer space”, Alexander half-questioned carefully, as they continued walking. Peter shrugged. “I’m pretty certain I’m the only other human in space right now”, he answered, typing in a long code into a small field, causing the door next to it to slide open. He entered, before turning around as he noticed his three unexpected visitors didn’t follow. “If you want to brood, get at least inside”, he complained. Ronan’s room was still spartan, however, the Terran’s influence was clearly notable if one knew what to look for. The bed’s mattress was still barely softer than the floor itself but two pillows and a blanket had been added. One additional casket was holding Peter’s belongings and on a small table stood a single plant. Its leaves were large and a strange shade of purple and Peter grinned once he noted their interest. “Don’t touch it”, he advised. “I nearly lost a finger… trust me, that thing gives the term ‘carnivorous plant’ a whole new meaning.” Behind the last of them, the door shut close again. “You should active your translators. Just press the red button and put them in your ear. Fells strange at first, but you won’t even notice anymore after a while”, he advised, before tossing a piece of meat towards the flower. As soon as it was within reach, the leaves rearranged, forming something dangerously close to a maw, tearing their food apart.  
Jason cleared his throat. “Since you said you are the only human in space besides us… I take it the other two…” “Are Kree”, Peter confirmed, rolling his eyes once he saw his visitors’ expressions. “Don’t give me that look. Last time I checked, science was pretty certain humans aren’t the only intelligent species in the universe.”  
“None than their own race itself actually considers Terrans intelligent.” Behind them, Ronan entered. His footsteps were silent even though he was still wearing his armour. Peter rolled his eyes. “I guess it ain’t racist if you insult an entire species”, he grumbled, before turning towards the three of them. “Since you’re staying a little longer, I think it’s time for a proper introducing.” He gestured towards the large man. “Ronan the Accuser, Leader of the Krees’ military forces. Ronan, Alexan-” “I do not care”, the Kree interrupted, making his lover pout a little. “I really love you, but you can be such an asshole”, he complained.  
The Kree lifted a non-existent eyebrow. “The Dark Aster has suffered severe damage in the energy saver processors, forcing the camouflage-system to fail hours before it was due because I saved these three worthless Terrans.” “Life is never worthle-” Before Jason was able to even end the sentence, Ronan’s fingers had closed around his throat, lifting him off the floor. With his feet hanging a whole foot up, he fought for breath without even a chance of success.  
“Your weakness sickens me”, the Kree growled. “Mind and body alike. Your arrogance, daring to consider yourself a superior species. Your race will annihilate itself within a few generations. And if Terra would die out tomorrow, I would not care to save a single soul.” Other than one, that was.  
Unable to answer, Jason barely managed to croak, struggling weakly and quite fruitlessly in the Accuser’s grip. Peter lifted his hands soothingly. “C’mon, Roro. I’m sure he didn’t mean to insult you. You know how often I did. Besides-”  
Ronan’s communication system beeped urgently, a small hologram hovering into existance on the Accuser’s bracer. Growling, he let the astronaut slip through his fingers, making him meet the ground with a painful moan. “What is it”, the Kree demanded.  
“Two Maanju have been spotted at the Outer Spots. Ranger assumes they are attempting to cut off the Jump Points and Routes Beta-54 to Gamma-19. The Dark Aster is the only one able to deflect the Maanjus’ energy shooters while still having enough fire capability to crush their shields. You turned off the ship’s signal so we don’t know where you are but Hala needs you to return immediately! I beg your apology, Great Accuser, however, with the current-” “Twenty-four Jump Points”, Ronan interrupted, before turning the communication system straight off.  
Peter sighed. “The Halori again?” By now he knew Maanju were the lizard-guys’ warships. They didn’t have much fire capability but were extremely fast -however, using two of them, the Halori were able to surround their opponents, firing from both sides while at the same time their own shields were extremely hard to pierce. Nobody knew what these scalic assholes were up to but it couldn’t be good.  
Ronan growled darkly in response. The Dark Aster was running on the absolute minimum of crew; there was no possibility of success against two Maanju without returning to Hala before. However, with Peter on the ship he couldn’t- “Holaqua.”  
The Kree’s piercing gaze met Peter’s. “What are you referring to?”  
“Just drop us off on Holaqua! It’s right next to Jump Point twenty-two; basically on your way anyhow. We’ll be fine. Just pick us off after; I really need to go to work tomorrow”, Peter complained. Oxygen and love just wasn’t enough, no matter what fourteen year old teen-girls posted on Twitter; money was kinda important, too.  
Ronan gave a short nod upon Peter’s idea. “Take your blaster”, he instructed, before opening the door and taking his leave in long paces.  
Peter turned his attention to Jason, who was getting off the floor by now. “Sorry for the whole near-death experience”, he apologised. “But if you’re against Roro, I’d strongly recommend keeping differing opinions to yourself. Or agreeing opinions. Any kind of opinions, actually. Just keep your mouth shut. He just doesn’t kill me because he kinda loves me. Just don’t tell him I said that!”  
The Terran went to a small table standing on the wall right next to the bed to and grabbed a pack of gummi bears, popping some in his mouth, before stuffing the bag in a pocket inside his red leather jacket. Then, he grabbed the blaster and fastened the weapon on his belt. “This isn’t exactly going as planned”, he sighed. “Honestly, I just wanted to pick you up and drop you off on Terra -Earth, I mean Earth… Geez, they’re staring to rub off- so you wouldn’t die out here. But Hey: You’ll be the first humans -me aside- to visit a planet other than earth. That’s something, isn’t it?” He punched in the door-code, gesturing for the three men to follow. He was pretty certain Ronan would be even less friendly if he saw them on his ship during battle.  
“Where are you taking us”, Slovancij finally demanded, as Peter made way to exit A-01. None besides Ronan was allowed to use it… with the exception of the red haired Terran. Peter sighed, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “I guess an explanation’s due, huh”, he muttered. “I’m really sorry for the mess. I honest to God just wanted to save your lives and then… _this_ happened. We’re gonna play Twenty Questions later, I promise. For now, we need to get out.”  
Right on cue, the door opened, revealing a small platform. As soon as the four of them had entered, the place quickly lowered until it hit the ground. Peter stepped off, followed by his involuntary guests and not even a second later, the transportation platform shot up, snapping back into its place. “My God”, Jason whispered as he stared upwards, quickly followed by his colleagues. The sky above them was entirely covered by the Kree-Warship, its rotating wings seeming even more intimidating due to their utter silence. “How big is this”, Alexander whispered, flinching when Peter’s voice cut the silence. “A little more than three miles”, he answered, watching as the Dark Aster’s rotators started turning once more and the spacecraft quickly gained height. Within a few seconds it was far enough off to active the energy speed units without burning the four Terrans and a piece of Holaqua to a crisp. The ship shot off and the Jump Point’s energy net glowed as the Dark Aster passed it, without doubt returning straight to Hala to collect its crew.  
“Well then”, the red-head finally offered. “Welcome to Holaqua. I’m sorry to inform you we won’t have free Wifi, but instead the double amount of oxygen than on earth.” He made way to the small house a hundred meters to their left. Apparently, it was the only one around. “The planet’s unhabituated”, he explained. “The Kree took it under their wing because it’s rather close to their own home-planet and they don’t want anyone snooping around.” He opened the door and offered the three man entrance, before taking a seat on the sofa Ronan had brought because Peter always proceeded to pout around how cuddling on hard seats wasn’t even close to being comfy.  
Peter hadn’t even complained about the back aches after being fucked into the cushions for the third time that day.  
He took out his Haribo (because let’s be honest there was only one company who actually managed to properly produce the tasty little shits) and popped a few gummi-bears into his mouth. “Look around, take a seat, there should still be a bottle of coke somewhere. Afterwards I believe I owe you some answers -well not really, I saved your asses after all, but Hey I’m a nice guy. So, make yourself comfortable. Since you didn’t get that shower, there’s a bathroom over there if you-” “Who exactly are you?”  
Peter looked up, meeting Alexander’s gaze and sighed. “Well, screw the shower, I guess. As I already told you, I’m Peter. Born on earth, raised on earth. Favourite colour is blue, prefers apples over bananas and Rolling Stones over Beatles.”  
Slovancij nearly forcefully teared his gaze away from the peaceful view outside. The trees were quite similar to the ones on earth, even though their leaves were way larger. He could even see some kind of small animal walking onto the grass and swallowed once he noticed its scaled skin and six legs. “That’s a Ghihmr”, Peter offered. “They’re predators, using their legs for sprint and a strong venom to kill their prey. Not dangerous to us, since their venom is unable to corrode our protein-cells.”  
“You are extremely versed with extra-terrestrial lifeforms”, the Russian astronaut stated, making Peter shrug. “I wouldn’t say versed per se. Life in its basic form is quite similar all across the universe. Some of it is simply more advanced than others.”  
“We tried for decades to contact other intelligent lifeforms. How-” Jason was interrupted quite rudely when Peter grinned at him. “ _Other_ intelligent lifeforms?”, he asked. “Dude, we’re so not worth the Krees’ time. We’re far to underdeveloped to be even remotely of interest; Terra -fuck it, Earth, I mean Earth- is just and I quote: ‘An undeserving, unprogressive, backwards planet inhabited by a weak and dull species’. His words, not mine. And before this goes on the way it did with Blacky and Irish Guy: The Kree have no intention whatsoever in invading Earth. We have absolutely nothing of value for them.”  
“I agree; our technology is nowhere even close to theirs”, Alexander asserted. “However, if humans are so far out of interest, how did you catch their interest?”  
Peter laughed, taking a few more sweets. “Found a crashed pod, took in a Kree, didn’t get killed, had amazing sex against a wall, repeat steps three and four.” He winked, suddenly looking no older than twenty at the most, his cheeky grin taking years of age from him. “Don’t tell Roro, tho. He’ll lecture me about decency and it sucked balls last time -or to be more accurate, it didn’t.”  
“You-” Slovancij choked on his own breath, “You have _sex_?”  
“Bruh, be glad Ronan isn’t here. He would break your neck for that and I’m not kidding at all. Kree have a totally different concept of duty and dignity. If you even _imply_ he might kind of like me -I’m not talking about love, mind you- he will kill you. But yes”, the grin was back in place, since shame was foreign to him, “The sex is… _out of this world._ ” Before even finishing, Peter was already giggling madly.  
“How are you-” The monitoring system’s controlling interrupted Alexander’s question. Peter frowned. “That was fucking fast”, the red haired Terran uttered, lowering his hand on the table in front of the sofa. The sensor glowed as it checked his fingerprints, body temperature, blood-vessel system and DNA.  
“Welcome, Peter Quill”, the system greeted emotionlessly. “Further presence detected. Require code for proceeding.” “No, you fucking don’t.”  
“Termination of possible threats halted. All operation systems online. Permitted full authority.” Since Peter sucked at remembering codes and passwords, this idea had been -at least to him- brilliant: A code that was none. Whoever tried to answer with anything other than these four words would be killed instantly for intruding. Ronan just looked somewhere between resigned and resisting the urge to strangle his lover.  
A bunch of hovering holograms flashed into existence. Ignoring the astronaut’s sharp take-in of breaths for now, he immediately started working. “This is Holaqua”, he explained vacantly, turning the planet digitally for a better view. Two screens showed a space ship from different angles, hovering somewhere around the third of the small planet’s moons. “And this is no Kree ship”, he stated, quickly working on clearing the footage.  
“Warning. Unidentified space-craft initiates trespassing.”  
“You have to be shitting me”, Peter bellowed, as the holographs finally zoomed in. The Halori. Of course, the fucking Halori.  
“Touch-Down expected in field Delta-35.”  
Opening another hologram, Peter zoomed in the ship’s destination. Delta-35 was on the opposite side of the Jump Point, making it harder to notice to any passing ships and- “You know, this isn’t the worst day ever, but it ranks at least Top Ten.” He turned around, facing the three men staring at either him or the holographic screens. “Okay guys, in around…” “Four Terran Minutes, Fifteen Terran seconds”, the system supplied, “We’ll have a problem around the size of East-Texas. The Halori are going the land on Delta-35 which is pretty much the place we are right now. If they catch us -if they even so much as see us- we’re fucking dead and I’m too handsome to die. Running is useless; they’ll catch us in no time. Holaqua is supposed to be unhabituated, which is why they’ll check this comfy little place first. Let them enter but don’t kill them! They most likely have a pulse -check; as soon as they’re dead, the signal is cut and the rest of them is gonna bomb the shit outa here. So, here’s my flawless shitty plan…”

 

Silently, the front door opened, as three large, scaled creatures entered. Without a noise, they split up. Two of them each made way to the doors leading to the bath- and bedroom, the last one left behind to guard the exit. Synchronising their movements, the two invaders opened each a door at the very same time, waiting for a second, before they entered.  
A moment later, three heavy thuds echoed through the house.  
“Their weapons, take off their weapons”, Peter urged, getting from behind his crappy hiding place behind the opened door -the very same moment Alexander and Slovancij did the same, the first of them putting down a frying pan, the other a toilet lit. Peter had gone classic, using the handle of his weapon. Seriously, he needed to tell Ronan to watch out for assassins behind his doors. “Keep an eye on them. If they move, knock them out again! If they wake up and get out of here, we’re dead. Jason, I need you over here.” The last of the three astronauts made way to him, a little pale. “Get down. Closer… We just have a heart-beat here! Right there. Okay, don’t move.”  
Peter carefully opened the Halori’s armour and finally found the small device that transmitted his (hers? ah, who cared at that point) heart-beat frequency to the ship’s controllers. Then, he waited. Two beats… five… six- he teared the small transmitter out of the hidden pocket and slapped it at Jason’s throat. Seven… Eight. The device continued to blink calmly. “Put it in a pocket or something. No matter what, don’t take it off! If it leaves your body before we get onto the ship, we’re done for.”  
Then, he unholstered his blaster, pointing it on the unconscious invader. From the across the room, Alexander blanched. “Wait-” The shot went off, tearing a neat hole into the Halori’s forehead without even making a sound.  
The German astronaut watched him, his face horror-stricken as Peter kneeled down next to him, starting to search for the next device. “The Maanju are just a distraction”, he growled. “They simply wanted the Krees’ attention elsewhere in order to be able to set up here and take a hit on Hala. The capital is only two Jump Points away, that’s nothing! I’m certain they intended to connect another Jump Point and attack as soon as the Inter-Stellar Net was connected.” Gone was the cheery, cheeky man they had gotten to know. In his stead, a commanding, determined one stood, not even hesitating to kill another living being. Peter finally found the second transmitter, connecting it to Alexander. “I already told you about the Kree having absolutely zero interest in Earth”, he stated, loading his blaster anew. “These guys… take whatever they can get.” He fired, his aim perfect once more. “Ronan already shot down one of their scouts next to Mars. And before you ask, yes, if it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have given a fuck about them.”  
Finally making way to the last intruder, he put the tracking device into his own shirt-pockets, before finishing off the last one. Then, he got up. “So… You can tick off ‘Abducted by Aliens’ and ‘Knocking them out with a frying pan’ on your bucket list. Anyone looking out for ‘Invading a space-craft’?”  
He took the Halori’s blasters, checking them once, before handing each of his companions one. “Type Gk-1O6”, he asserted. “Middle- and shorter distance; useless for sniping. You’ll need nearly a full second to reload -let go of the trigger; reloading will start automatically- before you can fire again. Keep in mind the time you’ll need to do so! You’re defenceless in that. Since this was supposed to be an ambush, there shouldn’t be too many assholes left. You ready? No? Me neither. Let’s go.”

 

The heartbeat-transmitters allowed access to the ship, therefore keeping the security systems silent. Peter had already worked out another of his flawlessly stupid plans, however did a 180 as soon as they passed the large cargo bay, obviously meant to transport at least one Maanju. If this worked out, he’d even be able to catch the rest of these fuckers alive. (They probably wouldn’t be much longer, but Peter did his best.)  
“Jason”, he whispered. “You see that big office-box-thingy? I need you to go in there. Put down the chair and hide behind the back rest -it’s not much but it’ll just need to keep them unaware of you for a few seconds.” The small box was meant for security and attachment; mostly to make sure any cargo wouldn’t go amiss and start sliding and crashing through the large hall. “When I say so -and I mean when, not a second before, not a second after, you hear me- I need you to…”

 

“Warning. Unidentified intruder in cargo compartment. High-priority security risk detected.” Peter flinched, as the ship’s security system woke into action. Holy shit, that was even louder than he thought. Just a few seconds later, the door slid open. Two… it sounded like only two of them, but he couldn’t be certain. If he left his hiding place, he’d be shot instantly. Shit. He’d expected more… the door opened again and he could hear the Halori snarling to each other under their breath, as they started to search the room. It was a mess; empty transporter boxes, rations spilled on the floor, the security system still yowling for whatever reason -seriously, everyone should’ve heard by now. However, the chaos was way smaller than he had hoped, mainly due to the fact that the cargo space had been mostly empty. His spot behind the stock of medical supplies was anything but brilliant and it was a matter of minutes -probably not even that- until he’d be caught. They’d set the whole chaos up so the Halori who entered first would need the most time to get through it. However, time was short and as expected, they had split up by now, mostly surrounding him.  
A shuffling sound caught their attention and they started running to his spot, the nearest one shooting at him blindly, missing his leg by inches. _“Now!”_  
The transportation support sprung into life as Jason shot up from his space crouched on the ground behind the chair, slapping a single button. The transit support sprang into life; a small force-field in form of a simply net surrounding them, pulling itself tightly around the boxes, lockers, goods and people within moments, tightly keeping in place whatever it secured.  
The very same moment, Alexander pressed down a single controller from where he had been stationed at the other side of the room. A yellow light flashed in waring, as gravity was deactivated. Peter pushed off the heavy metal box as hard as he could, drifting to the ground as the transport security wrapped itself fully around the cargo, effectively immobilizing the Halori, as the whole package drifted though the large room. Peter grinned. Fucking shit, they’d nailed it! Now all he had to do was- “Security-threat detected. Re-activating gravity.” Oh, for the love of-  
Peter fell back on the floor as the gravity system was re-activated; landing on his back with a groan… and screamed in pain, as one of the metal-boxes with some cargo attached landed on his left arm. If the wrapped up cargo had just come down a little to the right, if would have instantly killed him, he realised.  
“I can’t turn off gravity anymore”, Alexander yelled the same moment Peter heard a blaster go off at the entrance. Slovancij had been the one set up to guard the place; as soon as their plan was set into motion, any Halori attempting to enter would have to be killed immediately.  
Jason ran to him, however, any attempts in moving the heavy metal box would be useless and Peter screamed in agony when he tried to move himself. The pain was overbearing; white flashes danced in front of his eyes.  
“I need you guys to… to check for the cockpit”, he somehow managed to get out. “There is at least one of them still in there. Shoot him, and… There’s a holographic communication system in my jacket. The little one… yes, that. I need you to” He grit his teeth as the pain became overwhelming for a moment, when Alexander took out the small device, “I need you connect it with the ship’s communication systems. It’s simple, just… just activate it once you’re in the cockpit. Tell Ronan what happened, I’ll… I’ll wait here.” If that wasn’t the fucking best joke in centuries.  
“I will stay with you”, Slovancij declared, reloading his blaster as if he’d done it a dozen times already. “I’m set up for guard duty anyway. Besides, it’s less obvious if they’re only two instead of three.”  
Peter was right, Alexander and Jason noted a little later, there wasn’t one but two Halori still guarding the cockpit. After taking care of them- at least Alexander preferred to call it that way- they took out the small communication device, pressing the energy-button. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a hologram flashed into existence, revealing the Accuser standing in his own space-craft; green liquid dripping from his hammer. “Peter, I am not-“ He stopped upon seeing the two men, his face turning into a snarl -or rather, even more of a snarl. _“Where is he?”_  
“We are still on Holaqua, but he requires immediate medical attention. We have-” _“I do not care_ , the Kree snarled, his upper lip pulling back to reveal his black teeth. _“If he dies, I will slaughter your entire planet!”_  
The connection broke and while Alexander decided to stay behind in case Ronan would initiate contact once more, Jason returned to the cargo room. There was nothing they could do and even if they could lift the metal boy enough to free Peter, he wasn’t certain it wouldn’t do any good since the heavy weight kept his blood vessels closed off. Otherwise, he’d bleed to death, probably, cruel as it was.  
“Did you… reach him?”, Peter managed to ask and Jason nodded. “Yes. I don’t think it will take him long.”  
Peter grit his teeth against the pain. Why couldn’t the weight have crushed a nerve? Just his luck… He just hoped Ronan wasn’t too far away. This was- The door was opened forcefully (to be blunt, it just crashed) and Peter took in a deep breath- or rather, tried to. “Ronan…”  
In what seemed a single motion, the Accuser was at his side, lowing himself to one knee, taking in the situation. “What have you done”, he declared, having the Terran attempt to smile at him. “Mis…calculated”, he brought forth. “Gravity set in again too soon… Can’t deactivate it anymore.” There was still Halori blood dripping from Ronan’s warhammer, he noted, when the Accuser ordered: “Korath!”  
The dark-skinned Kree stepped closer and the first thing he did was injecting a clear fluid in Peter’s thigh. He breathed in relief, as the pain stopped only seconds after. “I need to ligate his arm”, Korath informed. “If we lift the weight off him, he will go into shock otherwise and bleed out too quickly.”  
“Do it”, Ronan commanded, his gaze never leaving Peter. In quick movements, his arm was tightly bound off, the blood flow nearly stopped. Waiting a few seconds, Ronan bowed down, before simply lifting the weight crushing the Terran’s arm with a single hand, using the other to carefully tuck Peter out. His left arm was barely recognisable anymore, tatters of flesh and white bone crushed to a pulp. His fingers were mostly intact for whatever reason. Without dividing his attention, he made way to the exit in long paces, Korath right behind him.  
Peter lost consciousness before they even entered the Dark Aster.

 

“That is none of your business. If you dare asking again, I will kill you.”  
Ronan. That was… “Ro-”, he mumbled, forcing his eyes to open at least a little. His arm hurt but it was manageable. He felt… drugged. Probably that was why he didn’t scream in agony.  
“Peter.” He felt fingers on his temple and somehow registered the overcoming this small affection meant for Ronan since someone else was in here. “This is the very last time I gave in to your imprudent wishes.”  
The Terran tried to smile but it didn’t even convince Ronan who -let’s be honest- wasn’t that good with displayed emotions. “I’m sorry.”  
“Not sorry enough”, the Accuser growled. “I should shut off the medication, however; your body would be unable to handle the pain and go into shock. Consider yourself lucky your physiology is disgustingly weak.”  
Ronan was worried, then. Ah, while Peter normally loved when he was, right now it just made him feel worse. He tried to face the Kree and all but screamed in agony, as the movement tucked on his arm. It was tightly wrapped in some kind of thin metal, dozens of cables emerging from the whole length. A large hand lowered on his chest. “I will shackle you if you attempt moving again”, he stated, making his Terran smile a little, despite the pain. Careful not to move, he looked around. “This is not the Dark Aster.”  
“The ship’s medical department isn’t sufficient for injuries this complicated”, the Kree stated, walking around him to examine whatever the projector next to his arm showed. “We returned to Hala.”  
Hala… Peter frowned. There was nobody in here besides Ronan, betraying his first impression. He probably had used his communicator. “Where are…”  
“I will not allow any more Terrans on Hala”, the Accuser growled. “They will stay on the Dark Aster until you are fully recovered and return to that disgusting planet of yours with you.”  
Peter sighed. Well, at least Ronan didn’t leave them behind on Holaqua. Which lead him to… “Did you catch them?”, he asked, making Ronan step back into his field of vision. “There was nowhere for them to run, since they were unable to deactivate the transport security systems from their position”, the Kree answered. As usual, Peter’s plan had been humiliating, risky and screaming for disaster. However… at the same time it had been nearly perfectly lain out in a matter of minutes. From scratches, Peter had managed to capture six Halori alive -a feat hard to accomplish, since they either got killed in battle or killed themselves in order to prevent captivity.  
All of Peter was so very much inadequate to Kree society and while this wasn’t the first time Ronan pondered about how the Terran would certainly be outcast by now if he had been born on Hala, the wasted potential within him would be a loss. For all his childishness, his stubbornness and the inability for follow the simplest of orders, Peter was a tactical genius. It didn’t show often -probably due to the lack of need- but Peter would be a brilliant captain. He had a way of coming up with the most grotesque, inept plan… using whatever he had at his arsenal in the most abstract way, surprising his enemies and taking the upper hand with perfect regard to his inferior physiology.  
What a shame, to have to outcast such a brilliant mind due to its utter lack of obedience.  
“Ronan…”  
“What is it?”  
“I’m bored.”  
Oh, how he wished Peter was Kree so he could outcast him personally right now.


End file.
